Carpe Diem charter school ranked No. 1 in Yuma County by AIMS scores

Academic success is not about money but knowing students' strengths and teaching to the areas where they need growth and letting them progress at their own pace, say officials of Carpe Diem, a tuition-free charter school.

"In Yuma, we're the only school to achieve 'excelling,' ever," said Rick Ogston, Carpe Diem executive director.

The Arizona Department of Education released ranking for Arizona Learns, data that measures school performance, earlier this month. Under the state's labeling system, there are six ratings: excelling, highly performing, performing plus, performing, underperforming or failing.

Criteria for determining the ratings include the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) scores.

In 2008, for eighth- and 10th-grade math, Carpe Diem students had 100 percent passing, which ranked the school No. 1 in the county. The average for passing in Yuma County was 47 percent in eighth grade and 57 percent in 10th grade.

In reading, Carpe Diem eighth-graders also ranked first with an 89 percent pass rate, and 10th-grade students ranked third with 65 percent. The average in Yuma County for eighth grade was 55 percent, and for 10th grade it was 60 percent.

The main reason Carpe Diem's AIMS scores are so high is students are assessed not only at the beginning of the year but nearly every day with written or oral quizzes, Chet Crain, academic counselor, said.

Carpe Diem includes sixth through 12th grades, and students are all instructed according to grade in a Learning Center with more than 300 computers. The school uses no textbooks but relies on an all-electronic curriculum. The advantage is the curriculum is updated almost every week to reflect the changing world, proponents say.

With each new lesson, students are given a pre-test. If they master 80 percent or better, they are allowed to accelerate to the next level of instruction, Crain said. He added that another advantage is courses are scattered on different days, with the Learning Center focusing on science and history while workshops do math and language arts and then reverse the sequence on alternate days.

Rachel Barker, 13, who moved to Yuma last year and previously attended public school in Ohio, said teachers at Carpe Diem keep closer watch on students and explain what is wrong when they fail to master a concept, unlike her prior school.

Rachel, who is already doing some sophomore course level work, is a teacher's assistant helping with tutoring.

"Other students tell me, 'You explain things in more simple terms,' and that makes me feel good knowing I'm doing something to help improve the school," Rachel said.

Kathleen Prock has two daughters enrolled at Carpe Diem. She said both of them felt distracted by a lack of discipline at public school and frustrated by a lack of challenging curriculum.

"My older daughter was a straight-A student at public school but she never felt she earned it, but now she feels she's making progress toward college preparation."

Yet Carpe Diem has an enrollment of just a little more than 200, whereas the Yuma Union High School District has nearly 10,000. The public schools accept all socio-economic groups and it can be a difficult task to reach them, but they try hard to do that with programs that are geared toward certain groups to ensure everyone achieves academic success, said Mark Bastin, YUHSD associate superintendent.

Bastin acknowledged Carpe Diem's top ranking and said it provides another avenue to reach educational goals and the more options, the better off students are. But a parent has to choose to send their child to a charter school, and research shows that students who are given a choice often perform better.

"It's an important level. of commitment that motivates students to succeed," Bastin said. "I don't believe our scores reflect poorly on the quality of public school education. We've made progress every year since AIMS has been given. Presently we don't have the edge that choice seems to motivate some students at charter or private schools, but we may incorporate that sometime in the future."

Carpe Diem does not assign daily homework but requires students do term projects. Typically, homework is about practice and not learning, Ogston said.

"Our students log on to a computer and work at their own pace. Small group workshops are offered throughout the day to help them learn new concepts and give them hands-on relevance.

"School is not about homework but academic success and if students learn everything they need in the school day, there's no need for homework."


----
William Roller can be reached at wroller@yuamsun.com or 539-6858.